N7 Paladin Sentinel
These soldiers are the go-anywhere, fight-anything special forces of the Alliance that were trained at the Interplanetary Combatives Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They had to survive combat situations "in an admirable and effective fashion" to receive the N7 rank. Many N7s now train other species in anti-Reaper asymmetric warfare. The Paladin carries a powerful omni-shield onto the battlefield to block enemy fire. The Paladin also uses the shield as a heavy-melee weapon that, when modified with incendiary or cryo upgrades, creates a devastating combination attack. Powers Melee and movement Player Notes General Notes *When in the right hands the Paladin is one of the most effective classes in the game; he excels in crowd control, can cause every type of Tech Combo on his own, and is extremely versatile to deal with any kind of enemy and situation. **With Energy Drain, Incinerate, and Snap Freeze, the Paladin has powers that are useful against almost every type of enemy. Equipped with a piercing weapon to shoot through a Cerberus Guardian's shield, the Paladin has an effective response to any enemy in the game. *With the recent multiplayer update, the Paladin can now easily chain a series of continuous explosions. **While theoretically any combination of Energy Drain+Incinerate+Snap Freeze can be used in sequence, as all powers act as sources and detonators for each other, it is inadvisable under most conditions to cast Incinerate first then Snap Freeze. Not only is Snap Freeze bugged so that the Fire Explosion detonates incorrectly (see below), and the perks for Incinerate can give damage bonuses against frozen or chilled enemies, but Tech Bursts (primed by Energy Drain) are the only Tech combo that Snap Freeze can detonate on the enemy. **It is also advisable to choose the Radius Rank 4 evolutions for Incinerate and Energy Drain, as well as the Range Rank 4 evolution for Snap Freeze. This allows you to prime multiple targets, and thus creating cascading Tech combos on weaker enemies. **Finally, while the damage of the combos is unaffected by the damage of the powers themselves, the overall damage dealt to enemies can be increased by choosing the Freeze Combo Rank 6 evolution for Incinerate. *The Snap Freeze ability is bugged. When tech combos are detonated with Snap Freeze, they originate from the Paladin, not from the target. They still have the same effect as a normal tech explosions, but only if they are nearby the Paladin. This can be useful for knocking back multiple enemies surrounding the Paladin. *The Paladin's signature ability, Snap Freeze, should not be overlooked. It can debuff, freeze, has good reach (even better with the reach evolution), and does decent damage. As an added effect, it can be used through walls and corners. This should be used to the player's advantage because it can soften up and even kill or disable large groups of enemies before they are a potential threat to the Paladin or his team. *The Paladin's heavy melee plants the omni-shield to the ground, absorbing hostile fire. This can be used to protect wounded team members or objectives. Note that the Paladin cannot move (though they can turn in place) or fire weapons whilst the shield is deployed, and it will not protect against attacks from the Paladin's side or rear. *Pressing the melee button while blocking with the omni-shield will result in a powerful melee attack. The shield can also be cancelled by using a tech ability, pressing the melee button, or by rolling while the shield is active. **Using the deployed-melee, it is possible to unleash two melee attacks in a row where the first has absolutely no ending lag, by pressing the melee button again as soon the first melee is used while deploying the shield. **Unlike most melee attacks, the omni-shield's attacks apply significant physics forces to most humanoid enemies, especially if it kills them. On certain maps, non-fatal strikes can even potentially knock foes off the map or into bottomless pits, often resulting in an instant kill. *A Paladin's omni-shield will break due to blocking excessive damage or forceful attacks, such as a Geth Prime's melee. In this situation, the Paladin will be staggered momentarily. However, the shield can be immediately redeployed at full durability. *The Paladin's omni-shield grants him very powerful melee abilities with a small area of effect. If specialized to do melee damage, the Paladin is capable of killing tight groups of lesser enemies in a single shield swipe. *The omni-shield will work wonders at blocking smaller foes, and when somebody stands behind you with explosive ordnance, your friends can brutally wound the grouped foes, while you soak up everything the enemy throws at you. *One viable build for the Paladin is to play him like an Engineer and focus on tech powers. This is particularly feasible for the Paladin because the Shield Mastery power has its final evolution for shield strength at rank 4 (rather than rank 6 for Fitness), allowing the Paladin to have maximum health and shields while spending 11 fewer points than most other classes. This leaves more points for either the tech powers or the class passive power. Cerberus *If a turret is placed a Paladin can activate his shield right in front of it allowing teammates to destroy it or move across its field of view without being shot. *The shield allows for deflection of Phantom sword strikes, and damages them as well as causing them to stagger. Once the Paladin blocks the sword attack, it is recommended he move or roll away, lest the Phantom impale him with instant death. **Additionally, shield bashing Phantoms with no barriers will cause huge knockdown. This works even when they use their cloak. *The shield light melee can be used to interrupt a Dragoon's Smash and melee whip attack. The Paladin can continue to light melee until the Dragoon is dead. This tactic can be used to shelter teammates from the massive damage from these attacks. *Energy Drain and Snap Freeze are both useful against Phantoms: Energy Drain to strip their barriers, and Snap Freeze to kill them after they cloak and take cover. **Alternatively, one can 'paint' a Phantom with Snap Freeze and then detonate with Energy Drain for massive damage, either killing it outright, or leaving it with a sliver health while also staggering it for a few moments. Collectors *Your powers will come into play a lot more than your weapons or shield will. Energy Drain will play the biggest role since some of the enemies are protected by Barriers and will also serve as your sustenance since many enemies will avoid getting up close and personal. *The omni-shield can successfully block melee attacks from Captains and Troopers, allowing the player to protect the squad from sneaking attacks or members being resurrected. *While it is possible to block the melee attack of Praetorians with the omni-shield, it's extremely dangerous, as they attack in succession and can easily insta-kill the N7 Paladin. *Snap Freeze serves the role of debuffing skill more than disabling skill since only 3 foes can be successfully frozen: Captains, Troopers and Abominations. Geth *The Paladin is exceptionally resilient when fighting against the geth, being the most effective class in the game to deal with them. With his ability to restore shields with Energy Drain and block with his shield during cooldowns, he can easily hold down a flank against ridiculous firepower. *Snap Freeze + Energy Drain excels against the geth, as, being synthetics, they are affected by Energy Drain more than the organics. This means the N7 Paladin can successfully cause Tech Combos mainly with Energy Drain and still restore his shields even if his enemies have no shields. That combined with Energy Drain Rank 6 Armor Boost allows the N7 Paladin to have 40% damage reduction all the time. *As Snap Freeze has a great range and goes through walls, the N7 Paladin can quickly dispose of sneaking enemies such as Geth Hunters and Geth Bombers, setting them up for Tech Combos before they reach the squad. *Paladins must be cautious when deploying their shield against the geth, as a known glitch with Geth Hunters and, occasionally, Geth Rocket Troopers, allows their projectiles to pass right through the shield, doing damage to your shields and health. *Note that Snap Freeze (evolved for tech combo damage) followed by Energy Drain (with power evolutions chosen in N7 Paladin) will severely damage Geth Bombers and Geth Hunters, and will kill Geth Rocket Troopers and Geth Troopers on Gold, without also equipping gear to improve power damage. Reapers *The player should pay extra caution for Brute's melee attacks and Banshee's biotic blast/nova. These attacks can instantly break your omni-shield. **However, with the right timing, the N7 Paladin can block the Banshee's blast without breaking the omni-shield, even in Gold. This particularly useful to protect the allies while unleashing Tech Detonations with Snap Freeze and Incinerate. **On the other side, if Paladin deploys his omni-shield right when the Brute is charging, the shield will break but he will only take a low portion of damage or no damage at all. This is a useful way to avoid harm yet remain mobile. *Deploying omni-shield or performing melee attack will completely negate Banshee's warp attack. *Snap Freeze will weaken the armored enemies, or freeze unarmored/unshielded ones. Basically every enemy will be affected one way or another. **Husks are particularly vulnerable to snap freeze, and with good timing can flash freeze multiple husks, leaving them all vulnerable to a follow up detonation. *Energy Drain will fill the gap of "Barrier Removal" and allow Snap Freeze and Energy Drain to work in unison with each other. Care should still be taken because Banshees can still impale you if you are not careful, and Husks can expose you to gun fire. While not as powerful as Overload, it will certainly do the trick against Marauders, and as a bonus your shields will be recovered.